Growing interest among the smartphone generation has effectuated a sizeable growth in the global market for mobile application stores. Downloading new and exciting games, and using social media applications on a daily basis is fuelling the growth of the global mobile application stores market. The continuing propagation in the number of smartphone users has a binding effect on the progress of mobile application stores. The online platforms to buy or download smartphone applications is gaining major investments. App development programs are on an exponential rise, creating a beneficial environment for global expansion of the mobile application stores market size.

Mobile application store market is expected to witness robust growth through 2020. Gaming applications are playing a key role in the growth of the global mobile application stores market.

Developments & Market Trends

Over the years, the advancements in mobile user interface (UI) design and mobile app development platforms has led the global smartphone makers to produce better apps and create efficient distribution channels. Mobile app stores such as Apple’s iStore, Google’s PlayStore and Microsoft’s Windows Apps are being extensively developed to adapt to various consumer needs. Upgrading of versions of the dominant mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android is also creating opportunities for stakeholders in the global mobile application stores market.

App stores are designed to cater to the prevailing consumer trends of downloading new applications or updating preinstalled applications. Increasing downloads of gaming apps is the most common trend triggering the growth of the mobile application stores. Upcoming trends inciting more revenue for mobile app stores include growing downloads of healthcare applications such as Epocrates and Medcalc and the rising volumes of in-app sales and purchases.

Global Mobile Application Stores Market - Drivers & Restraints

The most prominent factors driving the smartphone and mobile app stores market include,

Growing number of handheld devices such as tablets and smartphones

Advanced features present in applications

Versatile applicability of apps in the varying fields of medicine, entertainment, business and communication.

Social media applications and cloud computing apps that bring in more interests from groups of consumers

Besides these, another factor assisting the market’s growth is the key competition between app stores companies and individual app developers. In order to increase their sales, app developers launch interesting features through their apps.

A key restraining factor in the global market for mobile application stores is the constraints of users’ handheld devices. Designed for smartphones, consumers are facing trouble when some apps cannot be used due to lack of feature development. Smartphone manufacturers are falling short of keeping up with the mobile app developers. Applications designed for special functions require equally special features in smartphones. However, this challenge gets resolved over time as consumers shift to advanced smartphones that allow operational efficiency of any mobile application.

Key Regions

North America is a prominent region for the growth of the mobile application stores market. A majority of smartphone giants and mobile app developers are based in the U. S. Growth of the mobile application stores market will also remain steady in Europe and Asia Pacific.

Google Play, one of the leading Android app stores, has recorded phenomenal progress with more than a billion downloads of free applications such as Gmail, YouTube, WhatsApp Messenger and Facebook. Paid applications such as Asphalt 7: Heat (Gameloft), Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick Studios) and Where’s My Water? (Disney Mobile) have witnessed over one million downloads on Google Play.

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